Tech, Autos, & Gear in Layman's Terms Since 2006

I love my Keurig coffee maker. It’s my morning companion and has been for many years. Sometimes, though, I have coffee I want to try that is not available as a Keurig K-cup. While Keurig offers up an adapter that lets you use any ground coffee in a Keurig machine, my experience with it is not all too positive. Every time I’ve used it the reusable K-Cup leaks water all over the place. It is better than the wasteful K-Cups that are used once and then thrown in the trash or, more accurately, they would be if they worked. Sadly… they don’t.

So what to do? Well I have seen the Café Cup ads on TV during the holiday and seen them in the as seen on TV section many times and have been meaning to try it. We all know that sometimes gadgets like these do not work as promised so I was skeptical. I am happy to report that is not the case with the Café Cup. I have had nothing but success using the Café Cup.

What You Get?

I received the Café Cup as a Christmas gift from my brother. He got me the retail package which includes 4 Café Cups and a scoop. If purchased on the web or from the TV ad, it includes 2 scoops.

How Easy is It?

Very easy! Just measure out a scoop of coffee, put it in the cup and snap the lid shut. Insert it into your Keurig like you would normally do and press the button. You get the same great Keurig experience with a perfectly measured cup of coffee, but the real benefit here is that you get to “bring your own” coffee. More variety AND less waste!

Cleanup can be a bit messy but I do mine in the sink first. I just flip open the cap (be careful doing it right after a brew as it may be hot), turn on the water and rinse the grounds right into the garbage disposal. Afterwards, I just stick the cup into the top rack of my dishwasher and run it. If I want multiple cups of coffee and I only want to use one Café Cup, the quick rinse is sufficient and then I fill it again with coffee.

How Does it Taste?

I have to say it does a great job! Some might have some issues with the strength of the brew, but I don’t notice it as I usually use darker blends. If you have issue with the strength, then I would make multiple cups using the smaller cup setting on the Keurig.

Cost Savings?

The Café Cup website says that I can save up to 65 cents per cup using the Café Cup. However, this is assuming that I pay 75 cents per K-cup and buy really cheap coffee like Folgers. I probably won’t see that savings as I am probably going to start buying some beans from a local roaster. A pound of beans from my local roaster will run me about $9.99 depending on what I buy and since that’s whole bean it’s a bit hard to estimate how many cups I would get. It would be more than a 18 pack of K-cups that is for sure! I may see some savings unless I buy some single origin beans which can run as high as $35 a pound depending on the variety purchased. Also, if you purchase bulk 50 packs of K-cups on Amazon you can pay a lot less than 75 cents per cup. My favorite, Jet Fuel, runs about 59 cents a cup if you buy the 50 pack for $29.99 on Amazon. So your mileage may vary depending on where you buy your coffee or K-cups. Either way, there is less environmental impact when you use the Café Cup as now the only thing you are tossing are the used grounds.

Conclusion

The Café Cup is a good tool to have in your Keurig bag of tricks. My dad and my brother both have them but they have the same problem I do in that they enjoy the K-cups that they have tried too! So while I will definitely be using the Café Cup I will still be purchasing K-cups as I really like my Jet Fuel! 🙂

The Café Cup can be had for $10.99 direct from the TV ad website. You can also probably find them locally at Bed, Bath and Beyond or any place that sells Keurig coffee makers or has an “as seen on TV” section. You may even want to check Dollar General Store or Family Dollar as I’ve seen them there as well.

MSRP: $10.99

What I liked: I can use ANY kind of coffee I want in my Keurig including single origin and other blends I just can’t get in a K-cup. You can ALSO use this with loose tea to make a cup of tea!

What I didn’t care for: Can be messy.

Related

Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job.
His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

14 Responses to " Café Cup Review "

Looks like the “Ekobrew” that you can buy at Amazon. They work pretty well. It would be great if you can now find them at a local store, though. I tried a couple replacements – the official Keurig one and also the one that was sold at BB&B that had a little protrusion on the bottom. Neither of those worked well. The Ekobrew cups have worked really well except for a little leakage at times from the top of the cup.

I don’t compost and I really don’t have yard waste collection every week in my city. It’s such a small amount anyway….maybe 4 Tablespoons a day….if that….and it sticks to the inside of the container so it’s neigh impossible to get it out of the thing without water.

I may now actually buy my mom a Keurig, and this adapter. She drinks Community Coffee (made in Louisiana and has a root called “chicory” added to it. Nasty stuff)

My dad doesnt care much for mom’s coffee, but puts up with it because brewing HER coffee is better than her killing him because she cant have her coffee. Maybe it’s possible for them to each have their own coffee and my dad wont have to choke down that chicory stuff anymore.

I suggested getting a Keurig to my parents yesterday, and my mom literally screamed at me. They (she) doesnt want one. So, I’m really disappointed. I’ve tasted a lot of the other K-cups and like it. I am not a coffee drinker, but if you add chocolate to it, or give me hot chocolate or apple cider I’m a happy camper.

Not sure what the big hatred my mom has for Keurig. Maybe if Community Coffee would make some K-cups for it, she might be more open to it. She just likes that nasty chicory coffee crap because it’s “Southern”. (she’s from the South, has a weird obsession with anything “Southern”)

I got the Keurig Elite B40 for Christmas. After using up all the sample K-Cups I started looking for more and suddenly realized how expensive they can be. So I looked online for a reusable K-Cup. On Amazon I found one made by Keurig for $11. Even though I read the reviews which were mixed I decided to order one anyway. I’ve used the reusable K-Cup several times and am happy to report no problems or leeks. I realized right from the beginning that you do not want to fill up the reusable K-Cup. Add your coffee to about 2/3 leaving about 1/3 of space at the top. The coffee tends to expand and splatter inside the reusable K-Cup. A full cup is what is probably causing leeks and messes.

By the time my coffee finished brewing it was hard to tell if there was more coffee in my cup or on the counter. I thought this would me convenient and money saving. Instead it was more cleanup and I jut wasted $10.99 plus tax.

We bought these and they work great, no issues. Well, don’t overfill them, obviously. Normally the scoop would just get thrown in the bowl of them we’ve collected, but in this case using their scoop just level with the top is the perfect amount, it leaves enough room.

I love these. They allow me to drink my favorite coffee and still have the convenience of the Keurig brewer. I buy lots of regular Kcups for my guests to have their choice of coffee…. unfortunately at Christmas my guests all chose to drink my coffee instead of Keurig’s ready made ones and I ran out!. They work well. One other thing, I bought 3 packages of them and make up 12 at a time. I then put them ready made in my coffee canister on the counter so you just take and pop one in like a regular Kcup. I put them aside in then sink when used to cool and when cool if I bang the closed cup upside down on the side of the sink, then open it over the garbage the grains all just fall right out for me. My coffee is regular grind not fine grind and I think that’s important. I rinse, toss them in my dishwasher with the regular dishes and when I run out of my made ones in my canister I make up 12 again. Ready to go for another week.

I purchased the Cafe Cup and it worked well for several months. Now however, it will only brew 1/3 of a cup of coffee when the setting is on a full cup. Then, I have to go back and reduce the brew cup size down to the next to the lowest size cup and brew again to get a full cup.

I have cleaned and descaled the brewer but it didn’t have any effect on the brew size. It has brewed a full cup since I’ve been having this problem but very rarely. After reading some comments, I even reduced the amount of coffee down to only filling it to 2/3 of the bowl but that hasn’t helped either. It does this on all the Cafe Cups I have.

Help! Love using the reusable cups but can’t get beyond this issue. Surely someone has had this issue. If so, let me know what you did to resolve the probelm.